Nissan India suggests cars should be taxed based on emissions

India should consider implementing taxes on passenger vehicles based on emissions rather than the engine type and length of the vehicles, as per Nissan Motor India's MD Rakesh Srivastava. The suggestion comes as the carmaker is looking to drive in vehicles with multiple technologies such as hybrids into the country in order to curb air pollution.

The carmaker is looking to drive in its latest global sports utility vehicles, including X-Trail into the Indian market so as to strengthen its presence here. Srivastav, during a media interaction, said, "We can have different tax slabs based on the level of emissions," adding that the government already has a different tax structure for below four meters, above four meters, in terms of length and in terms of fuel.

Under the country's GST regime, passenger cars attract the highest tax slab of 28 per cent and on top of that a cess is levied. Small petrol cars with engine capacity less than 1200cc attract only 1 per cent cess, while diesel cars with engine capacity of less than 1500cc attract 3 per cent cess, on top of the 28 per cent GST rate.

SUVs which include cars with length exceeding 4,000 mm and having a ground clearance of 169 mm and above attract a GST rate of 50 per cent. The total tax incidence on hybrid vehicles in the country is 43 per cent, which is inclusive of GST, while electric vehicles attract a tax of about 5 per cent. "I think the time has come, maybe, to look towards incentives in the market place based on emission levels, that is going to bring a cleaner and greener environment," Srivastava noted.

Nissan, which currently sells models like Magnite and Kicks in the country, is now looking to drive in models like X-Trail, Juke and Qashqai here.